The weekend is almost upon us and there's plenty of action planned for today. Here are Mal Boyle's thoughts on the racing scheduled at Ascot, Yarmouth, Fontwell, hexham and Wolverhampton on...

...FRIDAY 05/10:

Ascot:

General stats: I have made the point before that because of the competitive nature of racing at Ascot on the level, positive trends are difficult to come by, though Clive Brittain boasts decent profits down the years. Clive’s meagre 7% strike rate means that you have to pick and choose his representatives carefully though, whereby Paul D’Arcy might be the man to flag up this week as his combined strike rate and LSP figures (fourteen and twenty-one respectively) make for half decent reading.

Gordon Carter event scheduled for 4.40: Just one winning favourite recorded via the last ten renewals though nine scorers were sent off at odds of 9/1 or less.

Yarmouth:

General stats: Saaboog is also declared to run in a contest on Yarmouth’s card, should the James Tate inmate miss his potential Southwell assignment on Thursday.

Fontwell:

General stats: Paul Nicholls has his runners a little further forward than is often the case at this time of year (three of his last five runners have won at the time of writing), whereby Paul’s 35% strike rate catches the eye in no uncertain terms.

Hexham:

General stats: John Quinn’s 7/19 trainer stats stand out from the crowd whilst Tom Scudamore has put his rare visits to Hexham in the plate to good use bearing in mind Tom’s 4/15 recent record.

Wolverhampton:

General stats: Jeremy Noseda is enjoying a fine run of late season form whereby the trainer might be able to improve impressive figures already in place via his 32% strike rate which is back up by a 25 LSP reading. Simon Dow’s ratio of 5/14 also makes for good reading.